December 14, 2005 -- The Land Use Committee today approved with recommendation both of Supervisor Chris Daly's anti-homeownership bills. To recap the two bills:

The first piece of legislation would require that all 2-4 unit condo converting buildings receive approval from the planning commission. This would add another layer of red tape to the conversion process. In addition, the process is subjective and the commission can deny a conversion if an eviction took place in the building.

The second piece of legislation would require that all TICs that are on the market disclose within their marketing materials if an eviction took place within the property. This eviction information is already available in disclosure packets at the time of escrow and serves no practical purpose other than to publicly shame a building when it goes on the market. Both pieces of legislation are bad news for TIC owners.

The Planning Commission bill is of most concern to all TIC homeowners. Supervisor Daly cited the need to adhere to the City's obscure "General Plan" which is the responsibility and oversight of the Planning Commission. The General Plan outlines objectives for the city including preserving rental stock and increasing homeownership opportunities. Daly wants to use the Planning Commission as the enforcing agency to preserve the City's rental stock. Since Daly's bill is predicated on the City's General Plan, he also needed to demonstrate equal concern for "increasing homeownership opportunities" by portraying himself as a pro-homeownership adocate. The SF TIC Coalition finds it convenient that Daly has now gotten the pro-housing religion.

The Daly bill would require the Planning Commission to subjectively decide each 2-4 unit building conversion -- including eviction history. What does this mean for every 2-4 unit TIC owner? Your ability to convert will be longer and may be at risk if your building has an eviction. At the hearing, the Planning Commission clearly demonstrated that they were not equipped to handle the additional responsibility of 1.) managing the new onslaught of conversion requests and 2.) how to objectively evaluate a building and its eviction history for condo conversion.

The Planning Commission currently has a backlog of approximately 20,000 permits for various public and private redevelopment and enhancement projects. How can an agency whose purpose is to objectively approve blueprints and remodeling projects now be required to subjectively evaluate a building's ability to convert? With all of the other work required of the Planning Commission, how much longer will this additional approval add to the condo-conversion process?

More disappointing is the Land Use Committee's lack of leadership and communication when evaluating this bill. During the entire hearing, not one of the three Supervisors (McGoldrick, Sandoval, and Maxwell) communicated their reasoning for approving Daly's Planning Commission bill with "recommendation" to the full board.

Both bills failed to muster the votes necessary to override a mayoral veto. The SF TIC Coalition thanks the Mayor and Supervisors Ma, Elsbernd, Dufty and Alioto-Pier for standing up for homeowners.